July 30, 2015

Chasing Tale [July 30, 2015]: Paperbacks, If You Please

Chasing Tale is where I highlight the most recent books I have received, whether they be purchases or review copies, plus a little rant to start things off.

I will admit that my Kindle is a great convenience, a luxury if I'm being honest, when it comes to my reading habits. I no sooner finish a book and I am greeted by a veritable horn of plenty right there on the same device. I don't even have to slightly turn my head to gaze at my actual bookshelf. I still have one of those! But this summer I have been dipping into those paperbacks, and that tactile feel of the physical book just can't be beat.

I'm not quite a Luddite, but I'm not a technophile either, so I guess I'm the baby porridge of electronic consumers. I could take it or leave it if it has a battery life. I will ooh and aah at the latest gadgets and gizmos to hit the market, but then that little voice in the back of my mind--the one that lectures me when I return something to the store after the buyer's remorse kicks in--will ask me if that thing is something I really need. When it comes to my Kindle ... ehhhh.

Like I said, it's a super-convenient device, especially since I use it to read advance review copies and small press books I otherwise wouldn't have access to, but if a solar flare knocked us back to the stone age, I'm not so sure I'd miss it. I mean, I have stacks of paperbacks sitting on my shelf. I'm good if I need a book, plus there's a library right down the road.

Also, one of the great joys that comes from reading a bad book is throwing it across the room when I give up on it. I can't exactly hurl my Kindle when I get fed up with some wretched piece of writing. The delete option will never replace that cathartic sensation of launching that literary abomination with enough force to make the book feel pain upon impact with the wall. Were I a lesser man, I might McGuyver a fireplace in which to burn the offending books.

But none from this half dozen need fear the lick of flames, as I'm sure they're all good to great ... and they're all ebooks.

Hauling Ash by Tonia Brown - In Tonia's continuing voyages from one genre to the next, and mashing them up as she goes, here is a noir-ish comedy with some ghostly tinges to boot. This ought to be good.

Bragg V1: A Bragg Compilation by Jack Lynch- This is a three-novel collection that's due to come out in Kindle form sometime in November, I believe. Brash Books has been doing a lot to curate some previously published crime fiction and this bundle could be quite the bargain come fall.

Blood Sushi edited by Jinx Strange and Angela Meadon- Dirge Magazine has come out with their first anthology of sorts. Blood Sushi is more of a sampler, with it weighing in somewhere over a hundred pages, but it's got some cool authors in the table of contents, so we'll see how it goes.

Dead Heat with the Reaper by William E. Wallace (All Due Respect Books) - This one is a collection of two pulpy noir novellas, both of which sound very promising. "Legacy" has a dying man looking to spend his life savings on something not so legal before he kicks the bucket, and "The Creep" has a disfigured Afghan war veteran facing off against crooks in his own backyard.